Lisa finally decided to move in with Lenny right before he took a job in Rhode Island. Debbie handled the conversation very straightforwardly. If Lisa left, she could not come back to Debbie—enough was enough. Lisa left tearful but left nevertheless.
For weeks, he was gone and returned only for a day or two, with weeks in between. Lisa hated being alone all the time and wanted to be with Debbie. She realized how much Debbie meant to her. Debbie tried to be angry and refuse to let her come back, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t shut the door on Lisa. Debbie remembered how confused she felt before she met Micky. Now the roles were reversed; Debbie was the older one helping Lisa understand her feelings. After many tears shed, arguments, and lovemaking, Lisa moved back in with Debbie. She promised she’d never leave for a man again.
As more and more young people moved to New Haven, a women’s center was added to the hospital. Dr. Linda Nelson was hired to head the fertility clinic and the department for pregnancies at risk. The women’s center, like the neurology department, became very well known across the area.
A young couple came to visit Linda. Virginia Anderson Legotti and her husband, Franco, had only been married for four months. The doctor was a little amused at their impatience when they told her they had tried and tried to get pregnant. Once married, they wanted to start a family immediately because their best friends, Ric and Margarita Santini, were pregnant, and they wanted their families to grow up together. After learning more details—Gini had never had regular periods, sometimes went months without one, and had never taken birth control pills—Linda started her on fertility medication.
Within a few months, Franco was assigned overseas to China, and Gini was going with him. Linda told her to keep taking the pills, and if she got pregnant, to come back to the States. The couple had no luck, and on their return nearly a year later, they started the in-vitro process. Gini immediately sloughed off the embryos. After a few months, when Franco returned from China, three more were implanted with the same result. Linda suggested they try a surrogate.
Much to Dr. Nelson’s surprise, Gini showed up for an appointment with another man, Ric Santini, a few years later. She was pregnant with twins. Linda was concerned about the pregnancy since Gini had recently been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, and the girl twin didn’t seem to be developing at the same rate as the boy. Trouble brewed when Franco returned to find out his best friend, Ric, had stolen his life, putting Linda right in the middle when he demanded a paternity test, certain the babies were his.
Chapter 2—Life Changer
Virginia (Gini) Legotti first appeared in Dr. Young’s and Debbie’s lives when she was brought from Boston in an ambulance, with a severe head trauma. She was nearly seven months pregnant when she was hit by a motorcycle and thrown into a metal park bench. Robert had treated many with the same condition (brain matter loss, with damage to the lower left and right lobes) and knew Mrs. Legotti’s prognosis was grim. He had told Franco Legotti, her estranged husband, that Gini would never have a meaningful life again. She would live only in a bed hooked up to machines, and Franco would have to make all the decisions for her as her legal guardian. He strongly suggested Franco consider taking her off life support. But Franco couldn’t kill his wife, the woman he loved more than anything in his life. He had neglected her and lost her affection, allowing his once best friend, Riccardo (Ric) Santini, to win over Gini and steal her love.
The loss of the babies and seeing the woman he loved so dearly barely hanging on to life made Franco avoid Dr. Young for a day before making the final decision. After the memorial service for the babies in the hospital chapel, he met with the doctor in his office.
He took a deep breath. “I can’t give you permission to let her die.” He lowered his head and closed his eyes. “I just can’t end someone’s life.”
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. There’s good news. Virginia is showing some improvement. She’s trying to breathe on her own. That’s a good sign she has brain function. I’m very encouraged.”
Franco looked up at the doctor. “So she’s going to be okay?”
“It depends on how you define okay. She has severe brain trauma and will probably never walk or talk. It’s way too early to know, but the fact that she’s fighting to live is a strong positive.”
Franco let out a long, slow breath. Thank God, he didn’t have to make that decision. Thank God, she was going to live. But what did that mean for all of them going forward?
It had been over three weeks. Franco worked out of their condo in Boston. Business was picking up in Peru, and thankfully, he had finally cleared up the mess in China. The government fined his company a hefty fine, but there would be no criminal action taken against Franco for one of his workers being injured on the job. Luca, his overseas manager, put the finishing details on closing the office and getting Legotti Engineering out of China. The San Francisco office was also closed, and Mario, his stateside office manager, was running the office in NYC. Franco had made several trips back and forth. It was time for him to go back and live in his apartment in New York. Soon he would be going to Peru on a regular basis.
He still couldn’t be with Gini for very long, and he dreaded visiting her. The swelling had gone down in her face,
